Crystal Palace Signs Moroccan Youth Star Taha Mejni

Crystal Palace have dipped into North Africa again, securing one of Morocco’s most intriguing young defenders in Taha Mejni from Ittihad Touarga.

Still only 18 by the time he arrives in south London, Mejni already carries the weight of serious experience and a world title on his shoulders. Palace are not treating this as a punt. They are treating it as a project.

From Touarga to south London

Mejni came through the youth system at Ittihad Touarga and broke into the first team in June 2025, thrown into the heat of an Excellence Cup semi-final against Wydad Fez. He handled it. Touarga won, and a teenager had his first taste of senior knockout football.

From there, his rise accelerated. Palace describe him as “a versatile player capable of playing at centre-back or right-back,” and the numbers back up the faith. He has already featured in 17 matches for the Moroccan club’s senior side, 15 of them last season, with 13 starts. Not just a promising kid, but a regular in a top-flight dressing room before his 19th birthday.

Now he swaps Rabat for London and steps into an academy that has become one of the most productive in the Premier League.

World champion at 17

The club’s statement lingers on a line that will catch every scout’s eye: Mejni is a world champion.

He was part of Morocco’s historic Under-20 World Cup triumph in Chile last year, helping his country lift the trophy for the first time. At 17, he faced and beat Brazil, Spain, France and Argentina in one tournament. That is a schooling in elite football that no training ground can replicate.

His international journey has not stalled there. Mejni has already moved up to Morocco’s Under-23s, playing two games in March, including a start in a 2-2 draw with Ivory Coast. The pathway is clear: age-group football, senior league minutes, continental exposure. Palace are stepping into that curve at exactly the right time.

Palace’s plan for Mejni

This is not a signing to hide in the background. Palace have laid out his route.

Mejni, who “describes himself as a defender with technical qualities who also enjoys the physical side of the game,” will join Darren Powell’s Under-21 squad. He is set to feature in Premier League 2, the Premier League International Cup and the EFL Trophy – three competitions that will test his decision-making, his aerial strength and his ability to defend space against English forwards.

Palace academy director Gary Issott made the club’s stance clear. He highlighted Mejni’s “excellent 25-26 season” and the “valuable experience in the Moroccan first division,” tying that directly to his role in Morocco’s Under-20 World Cup win at just 17. Issott called him a “multi-talented defender” who impressed the club’s staff and stressed that Palace believe they offer “the right environment for him to continue his development.”

For a teenager leaving home for the first time, those words matter. So does the welcome: “Welcome, Taha!”

A new adventure, an emotional farewell

Mejni himself has not shied away from the size of the move.

“Crystal Palace is one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League and around the world,” he said after signing. “They have achieved a great deal in recent years, so I am very excited to begin this new adventure with the club.”

Before turning fully to that adventure, he closed a chapter with a message that underlines how much Ittihad Touarga shaped him. On Instagram, he said an emotional goodbye to the club that raised him.

“After 5 wonderful years, the time has come for me to begin a new and important chapter in my life,” he wrote, thanking the club “for its trust in me, for the opportunities it gave me, and for all the memories that helped me grow, both on and off the pitch.”

He reserved special praise for his coaches – “for their advice, their patience and their trust” – and spoke warmly about his dressing-room bonds: “We shared unforgettable moments, and some of you became like brothers to me.”

The message ended as it had begun: with gratitude. He spoke of leaving with “a great deal of gratitude, pride and beautiful memories,” thanking “everyone who believed in me and to those who continue to keep the club’s spirit alive every day.”

His sign-off captured the mix of nostalgia and ambition that defines a move like this: “Thank you for everything, Ittihad Tanger. I will always be proud to have worn these colours. A new page opens, but the story continues. Forever grateful.”

For Palace, that new page is exactly the point. They are betting that the next chapters of Taha Mejni’s story will be written in red and blue, under the lights of English football.